Do you have a red, machine-readable passport issued before 26 October 2005 or after 16 June 2006?

If so, you do not require a visa for entry to the USA. Important: Your passport must be valid for at least the duration of your planned stay. From 12 January onwards, you can register online to continue travelling to the USA without a visa! You will need to register online to enter the country. With the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation – or ESTA for short – you can do this in a few easy steps.

Starting the 8th of September a charge of USD 14 will be collected. Payment is only possible via credit card (MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover); for those without one it is also possible to pay with a third-party credit card or via a travel agency. The validity of 2 years is also granted for ESTAs issued before the 8th of September. It is valid for all entries in this period provided that no new passport has been issued in the meantime. An on-the-spot collection of USD 14 (e.g. on the airport) for ESTAs issued free of charge is not planned so far. It is possible to fill in ‘unknown’ if the travel dates are not known when requesting the ESTA. The missing data can be added at a later date free of charge

We recommend our passengers to register at least 72 hours before departure in order to receive authorisation from the authorities in time. We also advise all those travelling to the USA to carry a printout of this authorisation with them when travelling. Online registration replaces the I-94W form, which passengers have been required to complete on board the aircraft. If you travel to the USA regularly, then this form must be updated every time you enter the United States.

In order to comply with the Transportation Security Administration‘s Secure Flight policy, the following Secure Flight Passenger Data ( SFPD ) information must be provided for travel as per November 1, 2010:

Full name (as it appears on passenger‘s government-issued ID)

Date of birth

Gender

TSA requires all Airlines which operate a flight to/from the USA to send this data 72 hours for ticketed bookings before the scheduled flight. Passenger reservations without full SFPD will be rejected by Secure Flight and may cause delays during check-in and possible denied boarding.

Airlines are also legally obliged to transfer details of all passengers on flights to the US to the US authorities with the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS):

The following details are required to do this:

Passport data

Country of main domicile

Complete first address during stay in the USA, including street name and street number, town/city, state in the USA and zip code

With Austrian Web Check-in, you can enter the APIS data required for your next flight to the USA online. And you can print out your boarding pass there and then

This makes your journey preparation simpler than ever, and helps you spend less time at the airport! Passengers who have a permanent green card for the USA and transit passengers are not subject to this rule.

A visa is required for the following:

Holders of red passports issued or extended between 26 October 2005 and 15 June 2006.

All airlines are required to record the personal information of passengers on flights to/from the USA and pass it on to the government authorities. If you have not entered your APIS data via Austrian Web Check-in please complete this form (pdf) and hand it over to our check-in staff. Passengers who have a permanent green card for the USA and transit passengers are subject to this requirement, too. Your information will be treated confidentially and will not be used for commercial purposes.